Ukraine searches for 20,000 children deported to Russia, real number may be higher

Ukraine is searching for 20,000 children who were forcibly deported by Russia. However, the true number of such children may be substantially higher. Representatives of the Russian Federation refuse to offer specific information on the matter.

Source: Dariia Zarivna, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, during a speech at the UN Security Council

Quote: "Russian officials systematically refuse to provide information. But to give you some idea, Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova boasted about 'settling' over 700,000 Ukrainian children in Russia," she said.

Zarivna told the story of 10-month-old Maryna Prokopenko, who the Russians snatched from a Kherson children's home. In Russia, the girl was forcibly adopted into the household of State Duma deputy Sergei Mironov, and her name and place of birth were changed.

In addition, the adviser to the President's Office stated that at least 16 children are killed or injured in Ukraine each week.

According to Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert with the Regional Centre for Human Rights and a member of the International Expert Group Bring Kids Back UA, more than 1.5 million Ukrainian children are still under Russian occupation.

"The forced imposition of Russian citizenship is a deliberate policy of the aggressor state. Without Russian documents, children face discrimination even in accessing medical care, let alone education and other services in the occupied territories," she concluded.

The Yale School of Public Health recently published a report claiming that Russia established a comprehensive procedure for deporting and integrating Ukrainian children into its governmental apparatus in February 2022. 

To date, at least 314 children have been identified under this deportation programme. At least 67 of them have become "citizens of Russia".

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